Page 9 - ME Spring 2020 Newsletter

Robotics
ME PhD Candidate Wins Campus-Wide
Graduate Teaching Award
Gillian McDonald was awarded the Aaron and Anna Beek Graduate Student Teaching Award for her excellent teaching in ME2011: Intro to Engineering and her work toward enhancing the learning experience for undergraduate students. Nominations were made by undergraduate students and judged by other teaching graduate students.
“I’m extremely appreciative to be recognized
and especially grateful for the students I had
the opportunity to teach,” said McDonald.
“Without the students’ constant contributions
and willingness to learn, the course wouldn’t have been nearly as impactful. They played a major role in helping me learn how to become an effective instructor, in addition to the guidance provided by Professor Will Durfee and Assistant Professor Tim Kowalewski. Seeing the students’ progress come to fruition in their end- of-semester robots was easily the most rewarding experience I’ve had as an instructor and changed my perspective of teaching for the best.”
Q&A with Gillian McDonald
Q: How do you think students respond to the robotics element of ME2011?
A: The robotics element of the course is a hit among the students. Throughout the semester, I would say a majority of the students experience a wide range of emotions — from nervousness over how they will make a robot with $50, to excitement as
their ideas become reality, to frustration as they debug and fine-tune, to pride when they get to display their many hours of work. The process is very reflective of a true engineering project and along the way students become masters of wiring circuits, programming microcontrollers, controlling motors, prototyping, and communicating.
Q: What do you think ME does particularly well in teaching robotics?
A: Will Durfee and Tim Kowalewski have invested massive amounts of time (and likely blood, sweat, and tears) creating the well-oiled machine that is ME2011. The course gives students the opportunity to learn robotics and engineering skills that can’t be obtained from reading a textbook or listening to a lecture. In my opinion, ME2011 makes UMN stand out from other universities in that the course offers more hands-on learning than traditional robotics courses.
Q: What is your speciality as a roboticist?
A: Soft robotics. Soft robots differ greatly from traditional robots in that they are made from compliant materials, allowing them to conform to and interact safely with their environment. In many senses, the compliance of soft robots turns traditional robotics approaches on their head, yet the overarching goal is still the same — to carry out a series of actions automatically while utilizing compliance as a benefit.
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